


The Rescued Crocodile

by LucidaCentury (Sephora909)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-04-27
Packaged: 2018-01-21 00:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1530797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephora909/pseuds/LucidaCentury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle finds a plush crocodile in the trash and brings it home. Rumplestiltskin would like to get rid of it, but Belle is nothing if not persistent. So it comes to the Dark One threatening to put her in the trash too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Rescued Crocodile

“Belle! I’m home!” Rumplestiltskin shouted as he came back from work.

It had become a kind of ritual for him and Belle to fall into each other’s arms and kiss hungrily when Rumple got home. Storybrook’s new librarian would already be there, most probably lost in a book.

“Belle?” he asked louder as he took off his shoes, jacket and tie.

The absence of answer was the typical sign that she was too engrossed in her book to notice he was back, so he headed for their modest library. However, he change his destination when he heard a noise coming from upstairs. It strangely sounded like the hair dryer he bought Belle after she settled with him. But she had already taken her shower this morning and it hadn’t rained today. What could she possibly be doing?

“There, you’re all cleaned now,” he heard Belle cheerfully say.

Her voice was coming from their bedroom, and through the ajar door he glimpsed a gray green furry tail. Rumplestiltskin sighed as deeply as he frowned. No one was more glad than him that Belle had a soft heart – otherwise she would have given up on him a very long time ago – but he really hoped she hadn’t picked up a stray dog. Though he liked animals, his house full of fragile objects was definitely not suitable to welcome them. After gathering the little amount of courage he had in him, he pushed the door open.

“Oh, hi Rumple. I didn’t hear you coming. Look what I found on my way home,” Belle announced with a girlish glee.

A crocodile. Belle had her arms wrapped around a plush crocodile nearly as tall as her. The relief that he wouldn’t have to take care of a massive dog was instantly replaced by an uneasy feeling as to why his true love had chosen this specific animal. There was no way he would keep that thing under his roof, but he didn’t have the heart to break the news to her when she was beaming at him.

“I found him beside a garbage can,” she told him with a bitter-sweet tone. “He had been thrown away just because he had a little hole in his neck. I couldn’t leave him there. Besides, he reminded me of you.”

Belle blushed slightly at her confession. She looked so beautiful he almost changed his mind about putting the soft toy back where it belonged.

“How so?”

“Well, he looked very lonely, all by himself with no one to love him. And just look at his large mischievous eyes. You had the same ones when we first met,” she said as she hold the crocodile out to Rumple so he could see for himself.

The fondness in Belle’s eyes made him smirk despite himself. She looked so much like a little girl... How was he supposed to take the bloody plush animal away from her now?

“If you want to hug something that reminds you of me, I’d be only too happy to help,” he proposed with a suggestive grin. “Besides, I can assure you I have no flea.”

A soft chuckle escaped from Belle’s rosy lips.

“I don’t doubt it, but neither does he: I gave him a bath and I’ve just finished drying him.”

Damn it! it was infuriating how she had an answer for everything.

“Why do you call it him in the first place?”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious that Rumpy is a boy,” she told him matter-of-factly.

God, was she serious? She looked serious. He was absolutely throwing it back in the trash.

“Belle, you know I love you with my whole heart and I deeply appreciate the fact that you are thinking about me, even of it’s when you see crocodiles. But if you use one syllable of my name to designate this thing, you will have to go with your new friend to the trash.”

“Rumple!” Belle told him off. “You know, I would call you Grumpy if the name wasn’t already taken.”

At first, he was worried she would get really mad at him, but then he was relieved when she smiled and said with a fake anger:

“Besides, you can’t put your true love in the trash!”

They both chuckled at this idea. Yet Rumplestiltskin was still set on getting rid of the crocodile.

“Belle, I would be really grateful if it doesn’t stay in the house. It… It make me feel a bit uncomfortable to see you with a plush counterpart of my past self in your arms.”

“So… You don’t want me to keep it because you’re jealous?”

Rumplestiltskin did his best to control his temper.

“That’s not what I meant. It’s just that, back in the enchanted forest... Well, I’m not proud of how I behaved toward you.”

“Rumple,” Belle began with a loving voice, leaving the plush on the bed to go put her hands on her beloved’s shoulders. “It doesn’t matter to me that you were sometimes harsh with me...”

“Of course it does, Belle. I threw you in a dungeon because you loved me!”

“No, you did that because you had to find your son,” she corrected him. “It took me but a few days to see there was good in you. And I really liked our life in the Dark Castle.”

“You did?”

“And I still do. I would never trade those moments for anything else. Would you?”

“No. Never.”

Their voices had become breathless. The love in their eyes pushed every trouble away. Very slowly, their lips slowly met in a fond kiss. Belle’s hand tangled in Rumplestiltskin’s hair while one of his cupped her chin and the other rested on her waist. The Dark One’s need for reassurance made him turn the kiss into a passionate battle of lips and tongues. However, Belle gently broke the kiss before they were both unable to keep their lust under control, even if the plush crocodile was watching them.

“I understand that it could help you to change if Waffle wasn’t there to remind you of your past.”

“Waffle?” Rumplestiltskin asked, puzzled.

“It was my second choice for his name,” Belle said, smiling against his chest. “So, tomorrow I’ll bring him with me at the library. I think he will love living in the children section.”

“Good,” he simply answered, not wanting to make Belle change her mind. “Thank you.”

They hugged for a while longer, comfortable in each other’s loving embrace.

“It’s just too bad,” Belle finally said with some regret. “I thought he looked really good on our bed.”

“Oh no, dearie. You already have one crocodile in your bed.”

Desire quickly returned to Rumplestiltskin. His lips began to trail along his true love’s neck, then her jaw and her ear, leaving tiny biting marks.

“And I assure you it’s more than enough,” he whispered lasciviously.

“Then prove it.”

There was nothing Rumplestiltskin liked better than being challenged by Belle, all the more if it involved making love to her. They clumsily stumbled to the bed in their haste to get rid of their clothes. Before Belle noticed, Rumplestiltskin pushed the plush crocodile to the ground. Only one crocodile had the right to devour her, and it was definitely him.

**Author's Note:**

> [Like it on Tumblr :P](http://lucidacentury.tumblr.com/post/84017452675/the-rescued-crocodile)


End file.
